Archiv: 4th Amendment US Constitution


31.05.2026 - 16:42 [ LaHuelga.com ]

S.O.S: A Second Letter From Delaney Hall

(May 12, 2026)

We feel vulnerable and, in a way, kidnapped —detained without justification— not to mention that we are being tortured physically and psychologically due to the poor food resources provided in these detention centers. We see with deep helplessness and frustration that our due process, rights, and defense have been violated, disregarding benefits granted under the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments of the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. Families are being destroyed and separated, where there are children, nieces, and minors who are suffering a very strong psychological impact because they do not understand the situation, and in some cases they have witnessed the arrests of their relatives, who have been struck by tragedy and the economic burden, since in most cases we are heads of household.

27.04.2026 - 18:19 [ ScotusBlog.com ]

Digital location data heads back to the Supreme Court

(April 24, 2026)

Background

The Supreme Court last weighed in on the digital Fourth Amendment in 2017. In Carpenter v. United States, the court addressed whether the police had to get a warrant before accessing a certain kind of digital location data, cell-site location information. Cell phones generate CSLI anytime they are on by scanning for the nearest cell tower with strong service. When a cell phone connects to a tower, that tower then records that connection in CSLI logs. A phone’s location can be tracked across time and space by reviewing those logs.

Writing for a 5-4 majority, Chief Justice John Roberts’ Carpenter opinion held that the police must get a warrant before reviewing seven or more days of CSLI for a person’s phone. (…)

Enter: geofence data

Among these unsettled questions is whether police need a warrant to access geofence data, another kind of digital location data. Geofence data generally refers to location information collected by cellphone apps. If you have encountered a prompt on your phone that asks you whether you’d like to allow an app to use your location, you’re likely generating the kind of data at issue in Chatrie. Chatrie specifically involved data generated by a Google service called Location History. In Google’s case, this location information was created by combining information from cell towers but also on GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth signals.

17.04.2026 - 18:03 [ Common Dreams ]

In Dead of Night, Johnson Tries—But Fails—to Ram Through Domestic Spying Bill for Trump

In the 228-197 final vote, a total of four Democrats—Reps. Jared Golden of Maine, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, and Thomas R. Suozzi of New York—joined with all but 25 Republicans who voted to pass a 10-day extension. Twenty GOP members voted against it, while five did not vote.

Ahead of the votes—including on separate versions asking for a 5-year and then 18-month extensions of Section 702—opponents of any clean extension, including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), said anyone opposed to warrantless spying on Americans must vote no.

12.02.2026 - 23:55 [ Courthouse News Service ]

House Democrats demand DHS scrap memo allowing warrantless entry of homes

(February 3, 2026)

House Democrats on Monday demanded the Department of Homeland Security rescind a controversial directive allowing federal immigration agents to forcibly enter people’s homes without a signed warrant from a judge, following the leak of a memorandum detailing the agency’s broad assertion of law enforcement authority.

Lawmakers say the memo took “a battering ram” to the Constitution and the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable search and seizure — and pushed back on the Trump administration’s claims that non-U.S. citizens are not subject to those rights.

12.02.2026 - 23:47 [ PBS.org ]

WATCH: Schumer speaks after Democrats vote against DHS funding bill, making shutdown likely

In a list of demands they sent to the White House last week, Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said DHS officers should not be able to enter private property without a judicial warrant and that warrant procedures and standards should be improved. They have said they want an end to „roving patrols“ of agents who are targeting people in the streets and in their homes.

12.02.2026 - 23:42 [ theHill.com ]

DHS shutdown imminent after Senate Democrats block Homeland Security bill

“Democrats have been very clear. We will not support an extension of the status quo, a status quo that permits masked secret police to barge into people’s homes without warrants, no guardrails, zero oversight from independent authorities,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said before the vote.

10.02.2026 - 18:08 [ New York Times ]

We Were Top Homeland Security Lawyers. You Can’t Wish Away the Fourth Amendment.

(February 2, 2026)

A warrant signed by a judge who is independent of the executive branch is a constitutional safeguard that separates legitimate law enforcement from arbitrary government power. This bedrock principle applies with equal — if not greater — force when the government is merely enforcing a civil immigration order.

Today the Department of Homeland Security seeks to justify forcible home entries on the basis of administrative warrants — warrants issued by the executive, not the judicial branch.

10.02.2026 - 17:53 [ Texas Public Radio ]

DHS defends ICE actions after San Antonio home arrest attempt sparks backlash

(February 8, 2026)

The agency did not specify what type of warrant officers were carrying. Judicial warrants are approved by judges, while administrative warrants are issued by immigration authorities; civil rights advocates note that administrative warrants generally do not permit officers to enter a home without consent or emergency conditions.

01.02.2026 - 16:36 [ Common Dreams ]

Leaked DHS Memo Reveals ICE Claiming Expansive New Warrantless Arrest Powers

Stanford University political scientist Tom Clark questioned the validity of the memo, which appears to directly conflict with the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, which requires search warrants as a protection against “unreasonable searches and seizures.”

“So, here’s how the law works,” he wrote. “People on whom it imposes constraints don’t get to just write themselves a memo saying they don’t have to follow the law. Maybe I’ll write myself a memo saying that I don’t have to pay my taxes this year.”

24.01.2026 - 15:07 [ LawDork.com ]

ICE‘s Fourth Amendment-free search policy, Minnesota church protest charges, and more

Although we haven’t seen that DHS Office of the General Counsel determination, DHS’s acting general counsel at the time was Joseph Mazzara.

Mazzara was most recently in the news for acknowledging that he was the person who gave DHS Secretary Kristi Noem legal advice about whether or not to turn around the Alien Enemies Act flights the night of March 15 after Chief Judge James Boasberg ordered the administration to do so. (They did not turn the flights around.)

Sometime less than two months later, per Lyons, Mazzara’s office took on the Fourth Amendment as well.

24.01.2026 - 15:00 [ Congress of the United States of America ]

Constitution of the United States: Fourth Amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

24.01.2026 - 14:51 [ CNN ]

ICE officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, memo says

Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press, marking a sharp reversal of longstanding guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches.

20.02.2025 - 23:48 [ Constitution.Congress.gov ]

Constitution of the United States: Fourth Amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

20.02.2025 - 23:46 [ MSN.com ]

Kash Patel‘s views on surveillance ‚willfully ignore the Constitution‘: GOP ex-rep

(January 31, 2025)

Specifically, Amash took issue with Patel‘s admission to senators that he opposes a potential requirement to obtain a warrant to engage in surveillance under the controversial Section 702 program of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is used to gather intelligence on foreign adversaries, saying it “is just not comported with the requirement to protect American citizenry.”

„Kash Patel’s position that a warrant should not be required to search the communications of Americans under FISA 702 is disqualifying,“ said Amash. „The Constitution of the United States is the law. It requires a warrant. Anyone who willfully ignores the Constitution should not head the FBI.“

20.02.2025 - 23:26 [ Fox News ]

FBI nominee Kash Patel confirmed in narrow Senate vote

And in another message meant to assuage senators, Patel said he didn’t find it feasible to require a warrant for intelligence agencies to surveil U.S. citizens suspected to be involved in national security matters, referring to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

„Having a warrant requirement to go through that information in real time is just not comported with the requirement to protect American citizens,“ Patel said. „It’s almost impossible to make that function and serve the national, no-fail mission.“

„Get a warrant“ had become a rallying cry of right-wing conservatives worried about the privacy of U.S. citizens, and almost derailed the reauthorization of the surveillance program entirely.